The items were found on the Caribbean island of Antigua and date from between 250 and 500 AD. They could have only come from a primary source in far
away Guatemala, tests show, prompting anthropologists to re-evaluate the ocean-faring skills of the settlers from that area.

Trade secrets revealed

Until now, it was assumed that the early Antiguans—called the Saladoid—only had contact southward with people in South America, said George
Harlow, mineralogist with the American Museum of Natural History and co-author of a study on the new research.

“The best hypothesis now is that there must have been trade going on between Antigua and Guatemala,” Harlow told LiveScience. “This is a
relationship we haven’t seen before in the Eastern Caribbean.”
The artifacts found were fashioned from jadeite jade—a specific variety that is different from the more common nephrite jade, found in abundance
around the world. Harlow used new techniques to examine the mineral composition of the jadeite jade found in Antigua and the only possible match was a
distinct source south of an earthquake fault in Guatemala.

“What’s more, only finished objects were found,” he said. The absence of unfinished bits and pieces of jadeite jade means that the Saladoid
people did not modify the stones in Antigua, Harlow said. “They have to have known about them and wanted them enough to make the trip.”

ya honestly i dont see get how a link to something about jade has to do with ATS and now a post is ruined over something else another site has to say.
I dont get how it would hurt you guys i love this site and anyone who really post alot on here isnt going to take what another site say seriously
without a indepth dubunking

An international team of archaeologists and geologists has found an extremely unusual example of jade in the Southwest Pacific.T
T
he small green artifact is about 3,300 years old and has a chemical composition that is unlike any other described jade. Found during an
archaeological excavation on a coral island in Papua New Guinea, the rock is thought to have been used as a wood gouge by the people living there.

But where did it come from? The researchers, from the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Otego (New Zealand), and the University of
Papua New Guinea, address this question in an upcoming special issue of the European Journal of Mineralogy on jadeite, the rock that defines one type
of jade.

Throughout history, these rocks have been made into tools and ornamental gems that were worn, traded, and treasured. Many nephrite jade sources exist,
but the prominent locations are China, New Zealand, Russia, and Canada. Far rarer is jadeite jade, which was used by people living in what is now
Central America and Mexico over a span of two millennia prior to the arrival of European colonists. “In the Pacific, jadeite jade as ancient as this
artifact is only known from Japan and its usage in Korea,” said George Harlow, a curator in the Museum’s
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the lead guest editor for the special journal issue. “It’s never been described in the
archaeological record of New Guinea.”

The artifact was recovered from Emirau Island in the Bismark Archipelago. It was likely dropped from a stilt house into the water below and covered by
years of beach sand.

When we first looked at this artifact, it was very clear that it didn’t match much of anything that anyone knew about jadeite jade,” Harlow
said.
The chemical composition of the jadeite in the rock is substantially different from that of other jadeitite samples. Jadeite, a mineral of sodium,
aluminum, silicon and oxygen in its pure form, is usually mixed compositionally with small amounts of calcium, magnesium, and iron, representative of
the minerals diopside and, to a lesser extent, hedenbergite. The jadeite in the newly discovered jade, however, has almost no diopside content and,
instead, contains iron without added calcium, representing the mineral aegirine, containing sodium, iron, silicon, and oxygen.

In addition and equally unusual, the artifact contains minerals rich in niobium and yttrium, which, according to Harlow, have never been previously
observed in a jadeitite. “It makes very little sense based on how we know these rocks form, and certainly not in the concentration that we see,”
he says.

After investigating the possibility of other sources in Asia and coming up empty-handed, the researchers came across a clue in the form of an
unpublished manuscript by German scientist C. E. A. Wichmann. A professor at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, Wichmann collected some curious
rocks from the Torare River in the Papua province of Indonesia in the beginning of the 20th century. According to Wichmann’s manuscript, the rocks
he collected have chemical properties that are very similar to the Emirau Island jadeite.
Harlow is now investigating samples from Wichmann’s collection, on loan from the Institute of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University and the National
Museum of Natural History in Leiden, to determine if a new source for this unusual type of jadeite has been found. So far, the data support the
hypothesis.

“The discovery of this artifact’s source can be eagerly anticipated as something geochemically extraordinary,” Harlow said. Other authors on the
paper include Hugh L. Davies, University of Papua New Guinea, who brought the Wichmann work to light, and Lisa Matisoo-Smith, University of Otago.

I don't know why I waste my time this morning. I really don't give a crap what anybody else's thoughts are on this subject now that my feelings have
been brusied. So I guess in that case. I should just tell ATS to stick it wear the sun don't shine and terminate my account since I rarely post a
thread anyway and no one here really has shown any kindness my way. Though I guess I really don't make it easy on them Masons...lol In other words
I'm sure I won't be missed. Believe me I've been on Chat.

P.S. For anyone that cares...You will find threads that make you want to create an acccount and then you have threads that make you want to delete
your account. This experience made me want to delete mine.

edit on 5-2-2012 by relocator because: (no reason given)

Damn it!!! You got me!!! I can't terminate my account I guess I'll have to get banned then.

Feelin naughty!!! Let's see which Mason should I plan this act of getting me banned on?

Jesus Christ, ATS....WTH? You really screwed the pooch with this thread.

Did the OP and subsequent deleted posts have inflammatory material about ATS? Or is this just another GLP-ATS feud e-peen type of thing going on
here? If so, it is stupid, petty, childish, and embracing ignorance all due to a bruised ego and the defending of your brand. It has nothing to do
with truth.

very interesting thread. In the ancient world, stones and other materials were traded over vast distances, even by
today's standards. In Scotland they have found cork that had to have come from Spain dated to somewhere in the region of 3000 years ago...similarly,
obsidian was highly valued (still is).

Not sure why the staff is knee-jerking on the source of this one, anyone would think that they had something to hide...

Great thread on many levels. So...please don't leave, Relocator. Maybe we should start an Occupy ATS movement....no, wait....I occupy ATS everyday
already just like the rest of you...you know who you are.

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